Jules Jacob is the author of Kingdom of Glass & Seed (Lily Poetry Review Books 2023), Rappaccini’s Garden, with Sonja Johanson (forthcoming White Stag Publishing Summer 2024), and The Glass Sponge, a semi-finalist in The New Women’s Voices Series (Finishing Line Press 2013). Her poems are featured or forthcoming in Plume, Rust + Moth, Lily Poetry Review, Rappahannock Review, and elsewhere. Jules is an Emeritus Master Gardener, recipient of a fellowship from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Auvillar, France, and former Court Appointed Special Advocate for the Thirty-first Circuit Court of Missouri.
Kristina Marie Darling: Tell us about your new book, Kingdom of Glass & Seed, which just launched from Lily Poetry Review Books. What would you like readers to know before they dive into the work itself?
JJ: Kingdom of Glass & Seed examines who and what we love and destroy in our relationships with each other and the natural world, and what we salvage from the remains. The poems explore the creative/destructive duality inherent in mankind and nature by relating human nature to the natural world through unique lived experiences.
The book is dedicated to family members who are adopted and/or lived in foster care or orphanages. My siblings and I are adopted, two of my children are adopted, and I was a foster parent for three years. I also served twelve years as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused and neglected children in foster care for the Thirty-first Judicial Circuit in Missouri. Although grief and loss are strong themes, poet and author Cynthia Atkins writes, “Kingdom of Glass & Seed, Jules Jacob’s anthem to love and loss, is a fierce testimony to forgiveness and redemption.”
KMD: Tell us about the origin of the book’s striking title. What advice do you have for poets who struggle to choose an arresting title for their collections?
JJ: I wanted the title to contrast fragility and resilience and selected ‘glass’ to embody fragility. Several of the poems in this collection reference glass, breakage or fracture. I chose ‘seed’ because seeds endure; they can lie dormant for months or years and be viable. With ‘glass’ and ‘seed’ in hand, I searched for a collective noun that gelled with the rest of the title. I tried house, yard, and home—of glass & seed—but they didn’t reach beyond the personal to encompass the arc of the collection. I selected ‘kingdom’ for its multiple meanings: kingdom as a realm or province of nature; a country or region ruled by a king (or tyrant); and a deceptive place built upon fairytales. Kingdom of Glass & Seed.
My advice for poets who struggle with choosing an arresting title is to remember your title lies within what you’ve already written. Look for inspiration in your collections’ themes, poems, and poem titles. Try combining part of a stunning line with a recurring theme. Dissect your metaphors for possible titles. Join a poem’s title with the first line of a different poem. Google potential titles in quotes to see if they already exist to avoid using existing titles.
KMD: As your collection unfolds, I admire the way you use form and shifts in form to tell part of the story. With that in mind, what advice do you have for poets who are at work sequencing a poetry manuscript?
JJ: Thank you, Kristina. I love contemporary sonnets and how they can help the speaker maintain the appearance of order when writing about difficult subjects and themes. This collection houses contemporary and subverted sonnets I refer to as broken, near (twelve lines), and runaway (sixteen lines), some in couplets, tercets or quatrains. Fourteen lines with a turn in the ninth can’t always provide the negative space to hold or release tension, which affects a poem’s pacing, rhythm and musicality. My desire is to offer readers and audiences the best visual and audio presentation by allowing poems to adhere to or disrupt forms.
My advice for poets sequencing a poetry manuscript is to determine the number of sections they want and braid poems within sections. I don’t recommend more than three sections for a manuscript of sixty pages or less or grouping poems strictly by theme or subject within sections—the sea in one, dogs in another, rehabilitation in the third—because the manuscript can come across as a group of chapbooks. The index card method is an effective way to braid poems in sections. (Write the title and first and last line of each poem on individual cards. See how well a poem’s last line speaks to other poems’ first lines, as if a couplet, and order poems based on the best combinations of first and last line conversations.)
KMD: In addition to your accolades as a poet, you are an Emeritus Master Gardner. Can you speak to the importance of experiences outside of and beyond the literary community for your writerly craft and artistic vision?
JJ: My experiences outside the literary community are vital to my development as a writer. My interactions with nature began at an early age. I absorbed information organically from my dad, who has a Masters in Botany and a Minor in Chemistry. The first plants I could identify were fruits, vegetables, flowers, and poison ivy, oak, and sumac. A botanist, blueberry farmer and former educator (high school teacher), my father is a careful observer who identifies influencers of change affecting species and ecosystems. He fueled my interest in poisonous plants and eventually my desire to become a Master Gardener with the University of Missouri Extension and a Horticultural Therapist, credentialed through Colorado State University and the Horticultural Therapy Institute. (Note: my mom is a retired English teacher. I was fortunate to be exposed to books and reading at an early age.)
Horticultural observations and inquiry offered insights beyond the literary community, just as observations of abused and neglected children and their parents deepened my empathy. These experiences taught me to step outside myself and write clear objective reports. Like an advocate, poets break silences, interrogate beliefs and entrenched social systems, and use persuasive speech to influence minds and hearts.
KMD: What are you currently working on? What can your readers look forward to?
JJ: I’m currently writing poems for my fourth collection that speak to the myth of truth, current, historical, and ecological losses, and our evolving/devolving landscapes. Readers can look forward to “Rappaccini’s Garden,” an illustrated collaborative collection of poisonous plant poems with Sonja Johanson, forthcoming this summer from White Stag Publishing.